


It’s Not Always Three

by unagidragonroll



Series: because you didn't go this far only to come this far [2]
Category: JBJ (Band), Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Humor, M/M, but not angst because it’s minhwan, doctor!AU, hospital!AU, justice league - Freeform, mentioned komuhodu
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-25
Updated: 2017-10-25
Packaged: 2019-01-22 23:35:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12493416
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unagidragonroll/pseuds/unagidragonroll
Summary: Jaehwan the ER fairy and his subordinates at your service whilst this Hyunbin gossip is spreading because this hospital’s wall is so thin.





	It’s Not Always Three

“Sunsets on lonely highways, the solitude of such wide open places is in a category all of its own.”

Jaehwan mutters the caption of recent natgeo's update of an endless road with a beautiful orange sky by the end of it a bit too loud for someone who nearly collapses after his 53rd patient for the night, and it's only three.

Four hours to the end of his shift. He's been avoiding to look at the clock, fearing the slow passing of time that will only seem slower if he watches it progress, because it is. IT IS. He heaves a long sigh, long enough that's almost as long as the list of the patients. He closes Instagram and grumbles (when he finally opens his messenger that he hasn’t touched for the last 3 hours with flood of patients as the reason when in fact he checks his phone every 3 minutes) as a notification pops up. It's from his senior. Jaehwan can already feel his head throbbing thanks to those extra letters by the end of his every sentences. Not to mention the animalistic way of him addressing this poor second year general surgery resident.

He types in every curse words that Jonghyun would scold him for ever, ever, thinking those are suitable for other human being, almost too furiously he could break his already half functioning phone but he sent a: The ER's been so hectic but yes the fault's on me for thinking it was a simple appendicitis and did not immediately call for an earlier appendectomy now that it's perforated. The fault is on me and it won't happen again. I apologize once again.

Throwing his phone on the table scattered with papers, he groans into his palms. A tap on his shoulder makes him look up to a sight of Hyunbin, his junior whose face isn’t much different to his — his tired face. He knows himself Hyunbin's way more good looking than him, that every month has a Valentine or White Day or Chocolate Day or Halloween?! whatever reason every interns or female patients or the dermatology residents or the young nurses or even the attendings could say to give him sweet treats. But that doesn't count, not until he stops giving them more patients.

"I swear, Kwon, if one more patient—“

"No!" The other exclaims with both hands waving, " No. No new patient. I just want to inform you that the shock patient is regaining her consciousness and getting stable that Yongguk's still monitoring him at the rescucitation room; the fractured one just agreed to be admitted for tomorrow's further evaluation with orthopaedics; one DNR patient is still on ventilator; and other than that, all is good, waiting for their administration to be completed whether to be discharged or admitted."

Jaehwan looks at the other boy flat, and when he's done, he hugs him way too tight Hyunbin squeaks like he's 50inch smaller. "Thank you," he whispers and pats his ass.

"O...kay?" Hyunbin lets out, hugging him back.

"Uh," a voice appears, "Sorry to interrupt but, uh.."

They break apart to see a flustered Woojin, back from the OR, eyes red trying so hard to be opened.

"Woojin! How was the surgery?" Jaehwan immediately flies to hug the smaller boy instead.

"Uh.." the latter's eyes widens, asking for help to Hyunbin who walks away as fast as he could, "It was a perforated one."

"Yeah," Jaehwan steps back and massages his temple, "I just got snapped by my senior. Well, three hours ago actually. Then Sungwoon, was he mad?"

Woojin shakes his head, "No. He just cursed in between his breath but did the surgery calmly."

"As expected. The fellow should've done it better than a resident." Jaehwan then walks to his seat, "Well, go home now and I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh." His response comes short, but before Jaehwan could snap and ask him to stay instead, he regains his consciousness and bows, "Thank you!"

The senior shakes his head and yells over, "Get back here tomorrow before nine or I'll get you more night shift!"

"It won't happen!" Woojin half yells back, afraid to be shushed by the security. This insecurity complex of a junior resident. 

Back at the nurse station, Jaehwan opens his laptop to make the presentation for tomorrow's daily morning report. Now and then, he walks to the vending machine to get more coffees, energy bars, and checks his phone by the charging port.

Hyunbin comes back from discharging a patient, followed by Donghan who looked like just got vomited all over his brand new shoes.

"I'm going to change into crocs," he says to Jaehwan which earns his hysterical laugh until he's back again with the overused pair of rubber shoes. "I won't wear my sneakers to this holy room again."

Hyunbin, still snickering although he's half asleep, mocks him like it's better thing to do than sleeping when there's (fortunately) no new tasks. "In your Air fucking Jordan's face."

"Shut up." Donghan mutters as he opens his phone, "I wore those because this. isn’t. supposed. to be. my shift!” He emphasizes every word and glares to Hyunbin who’s actually tunes it down and finds his cold chicken back at the pantry in instant. “Thanks to someone! He better pay my bill because I’ll make sure it is a fancy laundry!” He yells again, enough for the other boy to hear.

Jaehwan, from the other side of the table, looks over and gets curious. “So that was Hyunbin?”

Donghan jumps on his seat and looks back, “God, you’ve been here?”

Jaehwan rolls his eyes, “I wish I weren’t but there’s still hours left before the genie grants this one and only wish.” The other looks back at him like a novelty has just been spoken and nods in agreement. “So, it was Hyunbin?”

Donghan looked like he think for a bit but hops on his crocs suddenly, “I think I still got my spicy wings back in the pantry. Would you excuse me.” Then he darts to follow Hyunbin.

Jaehwan who’s still in process can’t understand why would Donghan hide something that’s so unimportant and besides, even the patient next ward already heard about it. He shrugs, continues typing in the scribbled words from a crumpled edge paper while gulping down the last of his third coffees for the night.

It’s been always three. Jaehwan doesn’t want to believe such nonsense but the moment he stepped on the path of third most wanted surgery residency program (first was orthopaedic, second was neurosurgery — this article he found on Google was somewhere around 4 years ago when he was an intern), his life revolves around the number of three, or that’s what he thinks everytime he recognize the number pops up.

Three coffees, or make it nine (3 x 3 is nine right), for thirty six hours length shift. Three ER night shifts for three weeks, and six (timed with two?) for ward shifts. Three hands-on needed to be checked per week; three juniors to be taught per term; and three current messages to this cardiology resident that the other hasn’t replied even one.

(No wonder he wouldn’t since all Jaehwan text were annoying stickers he just bought with the coins he won from a bet with Seongwoo)

It was all started three years ago, when they were still fresh graduate doctors, volunteering some church works on Sundays, band gigs on Saturdays, and working part time as GPs at some private clinics and hospitals on weekdays. While on their circle of friends mostly are doctors’ son, doctors’ nephew, doctors’ grandson even — Jaehwan’s a mudblood, or so he says. Despite Daniel’s effort to shut him up with a bread, spoon of rice, and even a cigarette (which he then coughs frantically and yells a hundred decibels loud) every time he goes around about being a peasant in the midst of royals, he still thinks that it is one joke that can annoy those blue blooded the most, so he keeps on doing that.

That time, those good old times as they like to call as, was one of the three times Jaehwan being introduced to this now second year cardiology resident who was actually been with them since the very first day of their pre clinical days. It’s the Hwang effin’ Minhyun, because Jonghyun doesn’t allow people to use the word. The Hwang Minhyun whose voice could correct electrolyte imbalance; whose face could be the reason of increasing plastic surgery demands (an exaggerated report by Minki); and the Hwang Minhyun whose soft laugh’s in Jaehwan’s mind — the laugh back when Jaehwan was crying the ugliest because he couldn’t make the neurosurgery enrollment examination that he lack the requirement score by one point three something, and when in fact now he’s supposed to make the rational excuse as why he couldn’t see the perforated appendix of the patient who came with a diffuse abdominal pain earlier.

He was devastated, drinking his third can of beer Daniel reluctantly gave for free because Jaehwan can be a real public disturbance when he’s drunk with his low alcohol tolerance. “Maybe it’s not the best for you?” The pink haired says, putting an arm on his thin figure.

He shrugs the big arm effortlessly, “I call bullshit.” Usually they would laugh because this scene was all too familiar, but that time it was solemn, and Jaehwan laughed alone at the four pairs of sorry eyes. “Oh please guys, we should celebrate that Daniel made it to the top residency program!”

The others glanced at each other but seeing Jaehwan wouldn’t break it in front of them, they decided to go along and called it a night when it was probably one in the morning. Jonghyun, being the responsible and unfortunately had shift tomorrow, drove both Daniel and Seongwoo home, leaving Minhyun and Jaehwan with more finger snacks and Minhyun’s umpteenth glass of water.

“What is it like?” Jaehwan slurred, head on top of his hands on the table. 

Minhyun lazily ate the remaining fries as he watched the folk band playing their last song, “What is?”

Jaehwan closed his eyes and paused for a moment, but then continued talking, “Being the son of the nation’s best hospital’s head?”

Minhyun stopped eating and was about to retort some ‘not this again’ when he looked at Jaehwan, eyes puffed, tear-stained cheeks and one more tear rolling out of his closed lids. He sighed, “Let’s go home.”

Jaehwan grinned in his half sober state, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean what I asked before.”

The other boy just sat still, watching his company with more tears falling to his grey hoodie. He looked so vulnerable, unlike the usual loud and carefree Jaehwan he knew once back in their student days. Moreover, he was supposed to be extremely noisy right then, considering the amount of beer he just had.

“I’m just wondering,” Jaehwan started again, “What is it like to be you.. to be Daniel.. to be Jonghyun.. Seongwoo, even.” He paused and nuzzled to his own arms, “You grew up seeing your parents with the white coat, probably got inspirations from them. You’re used to the environment rather quickly, probably earned the brain cells with pathophysiology in it.” He tried to laugh at the last nonsense he just spurted, but instead he stopped here and there because his voice cracked. Opening his teary red eyes, he looked at Minhyun who just gazed at him back wordlessly. “I’m sorry.”

They were staring at each other for several seconds before Jaehwan, being the Jaehwan, straigtened himself up and launched himself to Minhyun, sobbing hard loudly. Minhyun, who tried his best to not take note of his surrounding that thankfully there weren’t many people left, was taken aback. But Jaehwan’s grip on his shirt was stronger than his reflexes, and the littlest part of himself was thankful for that. Slowly, feeling his shirt damp with whatever rolling out of the younger’s face, he raised his arm and pat his hair, thinking it would be at least comforting, but that just made Jaehwan moved closer to his chest and dampening the other area of his torso. He sighed, wrapping his arm around the other’s body instead and rested his head on top of the other. He knew nothing from his lips would come comforting at this moment, so he stayed silent, letting Jaehwan make his whole chest wet for all he care for the next five good minutes.

That night turned out to be the biggest regret of Minhyun’s life for not taking any picture of the other boy, who looked like he just got a long term consumption of steroids. 

“Seriously though, what is it like?” He asked again, breaking the silence on their way back home. Minhyun insisted that he probably had to sleep over at the other’s home because he was too sleepy to drive back home and he had to be at the hospital in four hours sharp. “Being the ‘son’?”

Minhyun kept his eyes on the road, “Are you sure you’re not about to burst in any second now?”

Jaehwan chuckled, “It’s all dry now. My tears. Might as well got dry eyes for the next 3 years.”

Minhyun felt himself glancing to his side to see him, sleepy eyes, with the chair leaned back. He smiled softly, “A lot of naggings.”

“About?”

“Not skipping meals, to not badmouth people, not to drink, and not to smoke,” Minhyun answered, turning the wheel to park in Jaehwan’s complex.

The younger laughed and seated up, “That sounds like my mom.”

“Exactly,” Minhyun parked the car and turned off the engine, “They’re all mothers.”

Jaehwan sat there silently, trying to fight the drowsiness while staring back at Minhyun.

“I’m just a son who happened to be born from a womb of a pediatrician, whom happened to marry a man you already knew well, and both happened to work at that hospital, but aside from that,” Minhyun said softly, looking to his very eyes, “they’re just regular parents who want their children to be.. children. They don’t tutor me privately, they let me choose what major I wanted, they didn’t even know that I enroll for a specialty program because they were out of the town.”

Jaehwan looked back and somehow his hand managed to find its way to Minhyun’s. 

“It isn’t like what you thought, Jaehwan. I sometimes envy you whose mother came to your band gigs, the only one who cheered loudly when your name was called during the graduation, and gush about your photos wearing the white coats to her friends.” Minhyun looked down, comforting squeeze felt from the other hand. “Your parents are one of the kindest, most caring, and lovable parents I’ve ever met.”

Jaehwan could feel himself smiling to such cringeworthy, yet touching, words that spilled out of Minhyun at this kinda hour. 

Three months from that night onwards, Jaehwan was still found bugging his four bestfriends for being a lucky peasant in the middle of royals.

 

And three years and three hours later, he found himself reminiscing the time he found his way of life in front of his old laptop, showing 3 empty slides out of 60s. Jaehwan stands up immediately and walks to the restroom the thirteenth time that night and washes his face. He wastes his time there for good five minutes (when in fact he’s done with his business in, of course, three) and limps back to his chair. He checks his phone again, opens his Instagram again (to see Daniel’s weird instastory of two onigiris up there at the familiar OR corridor, Woojin’s ‘night *moon emoji*’ on top of his blanket with dimmed light, and Minhyun’s latest update three months ago), and a Ghibli exhibition email that he needs to forward to Sewoon who’s probably on hibernation mode because his yesterday’s shift. 

Again, he slams his phone back and do rounds with his two companions to his patients, making sure the laboratory results are out, and double checking the reports he’s about to present in few hours. 

And it’s like the God’s too kind when another three fresh faces come three minutes earlier from seven in the morning. “We really are a good team,” Jaehwan calls enthusiastically with his voice slightly cracking, followed by Donghan and Hyunbin saying the same and emphasizing the similar crack, earning some good morning slaps on their asses.

 

—

 

“—and that was Hyunbin?” A voice shrieks from the corner of surgery department common room. “I knew it!”

Jaehwan rolls his eyes tiredly and scoffs, “They wouldn’t tell me when I was practically there.”

Minki laughs almost too hysterically and Dongho shakes his head, drinking his coffee. 

It’s lunch time and Jaehwan will be more delighted if suddenly it’s three in the afternoon so he can snooze off to another morning. He’s laying on his back on his favorite comfy corner couch of the room, eyes lidded and without him realizing that he just drifted off, a nudge on his side wakes him up.

“What are you doing here?” He asks, voice raspy from his sleep.

“Let’s go home,” the other boy says, his backpack already slung over built shoulder. He then looks up from his phone when he get no replies, “Jaehwan?”

“Oh?” The said boy blinks and raises his watch, “Oh.”

Minhyun watches in amusement and stands up, waiting for the other to gain his state of mental.

“Let me take my belongings,” Jaehwan walks as he stretches, but Minhyun’s following suit. “Whoa, what kind of company is this?”

“Uh,” Minhyun’s closing the gap between them and leaning in (somehow Jaehwan’s taken aback for a bit), “I saw Hyunbin earlier.”

Jaehwan furrows his eyebrows. “Fascinating that even you take interest of this news.”

Minhyun ignores the remarks and continues his whisper, “If it was true then since when?”

“Since when?” Jaehwan asks, not taking much interest as he collects his clothes from the locker.

“Since when they were close!” Minhyun exclaims, and that’s when Jaehwan knows he’s been the only one thinking about that time, Hyunbin the medical student ran out crying (and vomiting) because he couldn’t see the sectioned frog and Jonghyun being the senior who was assisting the lab activity had to look for him at the janitor’s office. Jaehwan was the one who recorded the whole thing, and it’s too unimportant that it all makes sense why people can’t keep their mouth shuts because that wasn’t it.

“What?”

The door of the locker room suddenly opened to a sight of Donghan with the main topic of the week: Kwon Hyunbin. They are so casual with the arm around each other that Jaehwan wouldn’t notice if it weren’t the busted looks on their flushed faces.

And that’s when it’s all clicked — the team wasn’t three but two plus one as why they made a great team.

**Author's Note:**

> So apparently while making the other one, this one popped out because i can’t leave minhwan seed goes to waste. Also another notice of apology for any grammatical errors.


End file.
